Dagger

Minimal API web server framework for Node.js

** Alpha, use at your own risk **

Dagger is the backend of a minimal web API server for rapidly prototyping super-lightweight node.js services.

Dagger offers:

• The ability to rapidly develop web APIs and flexibly integrate services of all types in minimal time.
• An incredibly tight end product. None of the dependency bloat or slow startup of Express.js
• Predictability, readability and maintainability of its code.

Express and other web frameworks encourage anti-patterns like the Connect-style responder chain, which distributes portions of the request-parsing and response-generating code into vastly different (sometimes opaque) places in your source and decreases predictability (and maintainability.) Dagger is totally focused on making the HTTP request-response paradigm straightforward, even in the most complex cases. Nobody modifies the request or messes with the response but you.

Installation

npm install dagger

Usage

var server = new Dagger.Server(
{ "/":     homeServer,
  "static":  staticServer,
  "api":     new Dagger.Router(
  {
    "/users": Dagger.APIEndpoint(users.getAll, users),
    "/users/:username": Dagger.APIEndpoint(users.getByName, users),
  }),
}, 8000);

function getAll(request, response, args, callback)
{
  storageLayer.users.all(function(err, users)
  {
    if(err)
      return(callback(undefined, 500));  //return HTTP 500 and no data
    
    if(users.length == 0)
      return(callback([], 404));  //return HTTP 404 and an empty list

    callback(users);  //returning HTTP 200 is the default
  });
}

function getByName(request, response, args, callback)
{
  storageLayer.users.some({name: args.url.username}, function(err, user)
  {
    if(err)
      return(callback(undefined, 500));  //return HTTP 500 and no data
    
    callback(user);
  }
}